A short while later, we were leaving Nathan's office. Our goal was to get everything done and get out of town as soon as possible, so everyone had a task.

Jen and Micca were heading to the market to buy food supplies, including plenty of berries and fruit for the desserts we wanted to make—but also some meat and fish if they could find any, since we'd be leaving the forest area.

Hari was heading upstairs in the guild to visit the alchemy shop and grab a variety of dried herbs. Importantly, he was also going to try to get a large number of vessels for holding liquids—mainly to store the spider soup and the jam, and treat those almost like potions. Then finally, he'd stop by the loot house to see if there was anything remotely useful he could buy.

Milo was going to the baker to investigate the dough—specifically to find out if the method was as we theorised. If so, he planned to buy a large portion again.

And lastly, myself, Liane, and Crisplet were going to the house to hide out—probably doing some cooking—because we'd quickly learnt that the attention I was getting over the dragon situation hadn't died down in the slightest. So we were planning to go to Sarah and see if we could get an escort to the house.

I had a couple of things I needed to do at the house besides cooking. I still needed to work out which Infusion Evolution I was going to pick.

Once the game plan was set, we left the hallway leading into the main guild hall—and already, faces turned towards us. So we broke up into our groups. Immediately heading outside to the guild stables with Liane, Crisplet in his brazier.

"Hey Sarah, I was just wondering if we could hire you for a quick escort to the house we're staying at? We need to get there with as little attention as possible," I asked.

"Problems?" she asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing new. People might try to swarm me over the dragon situation the other day," I said, feeling embarrassed.

Sarah just laughed. "Yeah, no worries. How do you want to do it?"

Liane spoke up. "If you want to take him on your Drakhal, the others can deal with the horses later. I'll stealth over with Crisplet. They'll be looking for a group—not yourself and a hooded figure on a Drakhal."

Sarah nodded, glancing at her party. "That sounds easy enough. The cat's not going to show up thinking I've kidnapped him, right?" She asked, half-joking.

"No, no… she shouldn't," I tried to reassure her—though honestly? I didn't know. Would she?

"Alright, let's do this then," Sarah said, helping me up onto the Drakhal. I adjusted my hood to cover my face and passed Crisplet to Liane, who slung the brazier over her shoulder.

Riding the Drakhal was strange. It felt incredibly awkward after spending so much time on horseback, but I hung on tightly to Sarah as she rode out of the stables.

Already, I saw people starting to gather—watching the street and glancing at passing groups. Were they here for me? I was lucky that Sarah was such a large figure; I could easily hide behind her as she rode past them, appearing to head for the gate before turning off into a side alley that led to the house.

It didn't take long to reach it. I slipped off the Drakhal and ducked inside, waving goodbye as Sarah rode off again.

As I entered, Liane came in behind me.

"Those things are fast—I could barely keep up," she said, catching her breath.

Crisplet came out of the brazier and made his way straight to the kitchen. I assumed he was heading for the oven to settle in.

I'd need to wait for Milo to return before making a decision on my Infusion evolution.

Figuring I could make something while I waited, I headed towards the kitchen with Liane following behind—but as I entered, I was met with an incredible sight.

There was a ball of fire—and ash? It was hard to tell. The swirling heat and cinders were condensing into a single form.

"Crisplet?" I said, confused.

But there was no response. It was just a solid ball of fire, with thick, dark ash growing steadily across its surface. The colour was deepening, taking on a darker, more ominous tone.

I quickly pulled up my status sheet to see if I could tell what was happening—and immediately spotted the difference.

Ashborne-Sous (Active)

Crisplet

Level: 1

Experience: 0/100

Hit Points: 290/290

Mana: 530/590

Stamina 290/290

Abilities:

Flame Control

Fire Immunity

Ashbound Flame

Mana Enhancement

Ashborne Architect

Disruption Flare

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"Crisplet has chosen his evolution!" I said excitedly as Liane looked on in awe.

"What did he end up choosing?" she asked.

"Not sure exactly. He's an Ashborne Sous now, and he gained a couple of new abilities," I replied, listing off their names for her.

"Interesting. It certainly sounds like a mix between defence and construction. I can't see Crisplet dropping cooking though, so I wonder if it's a blend of all three?" she mused.

I supposed we'd have to wait for Crisplet to emerge. Right now, he was still a violent ball of ash and fire—and I certainly wasn't going to be cooking anything while I waited.

"You should practise your runes while you wait," Liane said with a smile.

"Since when have you been the responsible one?" I shot back in mock shock.

"I want fancy runes carved into the carapace of the spiders you cook me, that's all. So hurry up and get there," she said before disappearing into a soft seat nearby.

She was right. I'd look through Char's notes and do some practice while I waited. Either Milo would arrive or Crisplet would finish—I wasn't sure how long it would take.

***

Turns out the evolution was taking a while. When Milo entered, he did a double take at the fiery ash orb, then, after a moment, seemed to puzzle it together. I gave him the basic rundown of what was happening.

He was on the same page as Liane, thinking Crisplet had likely chosen a hybrid of the three quest paths, but he was especially curious to see what Ashborne Architect was capable of—particularly with his own speciality in earth construction.

"How'd you go with the baker?" I asked.

"Well, it turns out he does have an ability, but it's an odd one. It doesn't just magic up dough, so I'm not entirely sure how the system is working it—but essentially, he pours the ingredients into his bowl, and the ability handles the rest until it's been proofed. So it must come down to intent, because he's still physically pouring everything in," Milo explained, pulling out his notebook and jotting the details down.

"It's actually an incredibly interesting insight into how the System is functioni—" Milo was cut off as the flame orb cracked, almost like a shell. The outer layer crumbled and fell to the floor—not as dust, but as ash—leaving Crisplet floating there. He was larger than before, but not by a huge amount.

What grabbed all of our attention was how he had changed. Before, his body had been made almost entirely of flame. But now—now his form had dark ash coursing through it constantly. The flame wasn't the usual bright orange anymore; it had a deep, smouldering heat to it, streaked with grey, dark red, and ember-orange—like the glowing base of a campfire that had burned all night.

"Crisplet?" I asked as the flame—no, ash elemental—turned around and burst into bright embers. These weren't just little sparks anymore; they looked like glowing lumps of coal shooting off in all directions.

"You look amazing!" I said, receiving another burst of embers in response.

" Uh, how does the Ashborne Architect work?" I asked curiously as Crisplet moved towards the oven. A stream of ash began to swirl in from all sides, gathering to form... a grill?

It solidified, and honestly, it looked kind of ominous, with deep glowing red cracks running through it—almost like molten lava trapped under the surface.

I watched in awe as the structure crumbled into dust—only for Crisplet to then rebuild it into a replica house.

"That's so awesome!" I said excitedly. "And the other skill?"

Crisplet floated out of the oven, looked around, and then—apparently deciding on Liane—targeted her to demonstrate. She didn't seem to mind.

A moment later, a flash of bright light burst from Crisplet like a burning comet, though it had no physical force. I saw Liane blink several times before falling back into her seat.

"Oh wow," she said, blinking furiously. "It blinds me temporarily—and it even worked with the level difference. That's super potent."

"Doesn't seem to do any damage, though," she added. "So, purely a defensive ability. Very useful."

Crisplet responded with another burst of bright embers—clearly pleased with himself. "I guess it's my turn now," I said, looking to Milo, before listing out my options.

"I want to say the earth one," Milo began, "but that's selfish—and in the long term, it won't be useful for you at all. It only helps me, so we can remove that one."

"I think we can also take the flame-focused one off the list. It seems to be inspired by Crisplet—and even he's moving away from pure fire now," he added.

"I'd say we can rule out Apex Hunger too—despite the amazing name. It looks like it's focused entirely on offensive buffs, and honestly, most of the ones you've made so far haven't leaned in that direction."

He paused a moment, thinking.

"The restorative option seems like the obvious pick to me. It'll make you money and could be life-saving in the right situation... The question is: what will it do that a health potion doesn't already cover?"

He scratched his chin, still mulling it over.

"Look, I'm not saying the added effect of your regeneration on top of a potion wouldn't be incredible. And you've already figured out the herbs that give a simple regen buff. That last option would just make it even more potent. But it's the final part you mentioned… that's what's catching my attention," Milo said, trailing off thoughtfully.

"Uh, synergistic layering?" I asked, confused. "I'll be honest, I don't even know what that means."

"Well, at least to me, it sounds like if you stack buffs of a similar type, you're going to get extra bonuses on top. So think of the strength of that Sanguine Ascendance buff—then add something else on top of it," Milo said.

"So you think that's the best option?" I asked, hoping he'd make the choice for me—but it wasn't going to be that easy.

"It really depends. What you choose here will guide your class abilities into the future. If you see your future as a healer through food, then Restorative would be amazing—and that would be a very bright and helpful future. You could save hundreds, even thousands of lives," Milo said.

Liane scoffed. "Laying it on a bit thick there, aren't you?"

"No, not really. Think what he could do if he went to the front lines and mass-produced food for all the soldiers," Milo offered in response.

"You know as well as I do, if he did that, they'd have him practically chained up and forced to work for the rest of his life in servitude to the kingdom. And that's not a good place to be. What if a demon lord comes through and wipes everyone out again?" Liane said, a scowl on her face.

"That hasn't happened in millennia. You're not wrong about the servitude to the kingdom—you'd be treated well, to a point—but you would become a tool for the kingdom," Milo said, waving off the concern about the demon lord.

"Go for the balance. Be your own man, Trev," Liane said.

Milo just shrugged. "I think both options have merit."

"Uh… demon lord?" I asked.

"Think incredibly powerful general of the demonic army—comes through and wipes out the front line, pushes the forces back. The last time one appeared, we nearly lost the island. But we've got stronger people now. We'll be fine," Milo said, again waving it off.

"Nearly eighty thousand soldiers lost their lives to that creature," Liane countered.

"Anyway—what are you going to pick?" Milo asked, moving on.

I made my choice. The idea of being in servitude really concerned me—especially after the run-in with the Lord in Dunhearth—so despite it being the selfish choice…

Congratulations you have chosen Resonate Balance!

Resonate Balance

Level: 1

Experience: 0/100

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